Mud Walls and Medicine

The seasons are changing and the mountains of the Drakensberg are shifting at Africa Shaman Retreat site…

Building work has been steady and slow as we spend time building and fulfilling all our Sangoma work too… We have had visitors to the retreat who are willing to rough it a little and help with the building process if they feel inspired; this has been a blessing and something we are really grateful for. We spent an amazing week

in retreat with river cleansings and a steaming ritual, the mountain spirits were kind to us and gave us good weather so that the stars at night were brilliant and almost at our finger tips!

Two itwasa (Sangoma students) have arrived and so we have been working with the ancestors intensely in ceremony, using the appropriate medicines and feeling into the heart of the mountains which dominate the energy of the retreat site. Working with medicine in the mountains is very powerful…

The women of Hlatikulu Valley have been coming each week to make the mud balls for the walls and consistently constructing the walls layer by layer; it is an art that requires focus from them so that each ball is placed for maximum benefit to the structure; truly working with the earth in their hands and carefully creating walls that will hold ceremony… Each ball is carefully moulded into an oval ball roughly the same size and then carefully placed between the wattle sticks that make up the structures skeleton. It is amazing to watch this being done with such presence and skill…

The thatcher has also been working hard at the roof, carefully placing each bundle and making sure the quality of grass is up to scratch while his wife helps him neaten the whole process. The smell of the grass is overwhelming and at the same time deeply soothing as something ancient that humanity has lived with and under for a long time…

We have been asked recently if it is important to follow up with medicines recommended in readings. Yes, if it is possible to take the medicines recommended, it is important. When a medicine or muthi comes up in a reading, it is direct guidance from the ancestors and not just a routine prescription. The ancestors know exactly what is required and why they suggest muthi at the time of the reading; the healing or empowering process must be co-created and muthi allows a person to be active in the process with the ancestors. This makes the medicine very effective in the long term process. All muthi’s require the patient or client to be very conscious of their participation in the medicinal application; this is a powerful thing which empowers the person to take responsibility for their well-being on all levels. Muthi’s are seen as having an energetic frequency or affect aside from the physical make up and effect of the ingredients and it is important for the client to interact with the medicines energetic nature. For anyone wanting further guidance or a personal reading and consultation with a Sangoma; http://africashamanexperience.com/consulting-a-sangoma-reading-divination-and-ancestral-spirits

In a few days time we head back into the mountains for more ceremony and work with the ancestors as one itwasa completes a stage of training. As always we are in deep gratitude for the gifts we are given by the mountains and the waters and life which flows from them…